Lineup stays same, Columbus assesses the Sharks, and why Boucher played in L.A

COLUMBUS, Ohio — No Joe Pavelski, no Jonathan Cheechoo. Both skated today, but Coach Todd McLellan said neither was ready to go just yet.

That daily issue dealt with, occasionally I’m going to ask other teams what they think helps explain the Sharks rise to the top this season — things that go beyond the obvious changes in personnel on the blue line and on the coaching staff.

And I got some interesting answers from the Blue Jackets, a team that’s still kicking itself over the fact they outplayed the Sharks yet came away with nada at HP Pavilion on Dec. 4.

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Here’s what center Michael Peca, a onetime captain in Buffalo, had to say:

“They’ve got guys — when we had our last team meeting, the coaches brought up that in the forecheck and certain areas of the game defenseively, if they didn’t have the numbers on their back, you couldn’t tell a lot of guys apart because they’re all working extremely hard and committed to having a strong team game.

“When you have your best players doing that, other guys can’t help but follow.”

Defenseman Mike Commodore, who was on that Calgary team that beat San Jose in the 2004 Western Conference finals, said virtually the same thing a little differently:

“When you’ve got the puck, different guys have different abilities. … Without the puck, they all hustle, they all work hard to win the one-on-one battles, they’re physical. It’s tough to differentiate between a first-line guy and a fourth-line guy when they don’t have the puck.”

And Coach Ken Hitchcock, who’s been following the Sharks pretty closely since his days in Dallas when the teams were playoff foes, offered this:

“They have the look of a team that’s fed up and knocking on the door and they want to push through. They have a look in their eyes that’s different. The game is on the line, they turn up the volume.

“The personnel change is one thing and the system change is another thing. Everybody talks about all that stuff. To me what it is . . . there’s a signiicant business-like look about the players who are trying to get a handle on winning the cup. You reach a stage as an organization and you reach a stage as a group of players where you want more. And that’s what that team looks like. They’re not satisfied with just being a good team. They want more and they have that look about them.”

********Hitchcock and Sharks defenseman Brad Lukowich each had nice things to say about each other. Lukowich started his career in Dallas when Hitchock was there and the two were part of the 1999 Stanley Cup winning team.

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“Brad’s a really solid player,” Hitchcock said. “He’s a solid professional and he really is a great support. He augments good players. He’s smart and I think he keeps the team on an even keel. He does a great job.”

Lukowich credited Hitchcock with giving him the confidence that he could find success in the NHL.

“He’s the reason I’m here,” Lukowich said. “He gave me my opportunity. I remember one game when I was sitting on the bench. I had only played like two or three shifts and there was kind of like a melee where some guys had gotten kicked out and we were down to like three or four defensemen. And (assistant coach) Rick Wilson went down and asked him what should we do.

“He asked about bringing someone back from the forwards to play defense, but Hitch says ‘No, play the kid. That’s why he’s here.”

********So I asked Todd McLellan this morning why he went with Brian Boucher in L.A. and left Nabby to handle the back-to-backs in Columbus and Detroit. I prefaced the question by saying I’m not an NHL coach (duh) but I wanted to know how his thought process worked.

“Bouche had a 1-0 win in LA the last time we were there. Nabby won us a game against this team,” he said. “Back-to-back? You know, we have 18 players that play back-to-back. Our goaltenders can handle that. There’s potential for that in the playoffs and there’s nothing wrong wth Nabby playing in those situations.”

********One last thing: Sports Illustrated’s Michael Farber spent time with Claude Lemieux in Worcester and the story in this week’s issue is a very nice read and raises interesting possibilities. I’ll only say that I can’t get Sharks GM Doug Wilson to take even the first step in the direction of Lemieux ending up in San Jose this season — and I did try once again when Jeremy Roenick was injured. (Not that Farber had better luck with Wilson; he just didn’t let that stop him from speculating. Which, of course, is fine.)

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.